Michael Goeman, 59, a male, disappeared in March 2021 while living in the Auburn–Algona area of south King County. He was killed on March 16, 2021; weeks later, searchers found his remains along an unmaintained, overgrown stretch near West Valley Highway in Algona, close to Auburn’s Game Farm Park. His 31-year-old son, Vance Lakey, was discovered in the same vicinity about a week after his father. The King County Medical Examiner determined both deaths were homicides by gunfire.
Detectives soon connected their case to a broader pattern of killings centered on wooded areas by Game Farm Park. According to charging documents summarized by local and national outlets, investigators say an Auburn-area man, Richard Walter Bradley lured victims into the woods with a tale about buried gold that he needed help digging up. Prosecutors later alleged that after isolating the victims, Bradley killed them and took their property, a scheme they say also accounted for the earlier disappearance of Emilio Maturin and the 2021 murder of Brandi Blake, whose body was found buried in the park.
In December 2023, prosecutors filed additional charges, alleging Bradley killed Goeman and Lakey in March 2021 and linking their deaths to the same “buried gold” ruse. Reports describe evidence that included the discovery of both men shot and left with digging tools nearby, sightings of Bradley driving their vehicle and motorcycle in the days after they vanished, and an alleged attempt to pay someone to burn one of the impounded vehicles—conduct that also led to an arson charge. Bradley was already jailed awaiting trial in Blake’s case when the new murder counts were added.
Family members have spoken publicly about the loss, recalling how father and son were found in the remote corridor off West Valley Highway and pressing for answers as the case moved toward court proceedings. As of the most recent coverage, Bradley remains the accused suspect in Goeman’s death, charged in multiple murders connected to the Game Farm Park area, with court hearings continuing after the 2023 filings.
